News

*7/31/14: Thanks to all who attended the recent "Data Processing" webinar! To access the slides and Q&A from this webinar, please click here.

*7/1/14: Thanks to all who attended the recent webinar related to using MERS syndrome definitions. To review the guidance and obtain the syndrome files, please visit the MERS folder in the Library here.

*5/29/14: Thanks to all who attended yesterday's "Data Quality Checks and Assurance" webinar! To view a recording of this webinar and access the slides, please click here.

*4/29/14: Thanks to all who attended yesterday's "Heat-related Illness Surveillance" webinar! To view a recording of this webinar and access the slides, please click here.

*4/2/14: Thanks to all who attended the recent "The Kansas Experience, Health Information Exchanges, and Onboarding" webinar! To view a recording of this webinar and access the slides, please click here.

* If you wish to be notified of future updates and postings please provide your contact information.

Featured Question

What do I need to do to start participating in BioSense 2.0?

The first step in participating is completing a Data Use Agreement (DUA) with ASTHO. Under cooperative agreement with CDC, ASTHO hosts the BioSense 2.0 environment and facilitates the BioSense 2.0 Governance. Please contact Scott Gordon (SGordon@astho.org) at ASTHO to obtain a DUA to begin the process.

Any views or opinions expressed here do not necessarily represent the views of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), or any other entity of the United States government. Furthermore, the use of any product names, trade names, images, or commercial sources is for identification purposes only, and does not imply endorsement or government sanction by (CDC), (HHS), or any other entity of the United States government.

Governance Links

This section of the BioSense Program Redesign site is an area for communication between the BioSense 2.0 Governance Group, the users of BioSense 2.0, and contributors to BioSense. Here you will find a description of the BioSense Governance Group, updates on its activities, and tools for sending feedback to the Group or to one of its individual members.

BioSense 2.0 Governance Group

In order to ensure that the development of BioSense 2.0 is advised by the entire public health community, the development of a governance group, with significant representation from state and local public health, was a major component in the development of the BioSense 2.0 program.

ASTHO is responsible for facilitating the development of the Governance Group for BioSense 2.0. In 2011, an interim governance group was created as an ad-hoc body to help usher in the governance process, develop a governance charter, and ultimately lead to the formation of a permanent governance structure. The interim group consisted of members from ASTHO, the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE), the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), the International Society for Disease Surveillance (ISDS), and the CDC.

These initial tasks were achieved, with a completed Governance Charter and with the newly formed permanent Governance Group having held its first conference call on August 23.

A listing of the current members of the BioSense 2.0 Governance Group can be found here.

Major responsibilities of the BioSense 2.0 Governance Group, as defined in the Charter are to:

provide representation for a diverse set of public health stakeholders from state, local, and federal levels

help set strategic priorities, policy, and direction for BioSense 2.0

assure that system development is responsive to jurisdictional and user input

serve as a conduit for feedback and recommendations from the constituents that the Governance Group members represent.

As BioSense 2.0 continues to develop, it is expected that the Charter and the functions of Governance may change over time to reflect emerging issues. However, in all cases the goal of the BioSense 2.0 Governance Group will continue to represent stakeholders of BioSense 2.0.